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Topic: Another Thread on the Problem of Evil (Read 4760 times)

Two of my best friends from high school became homeless meth addicts after our graduation. It hurt me but didn't surprise me too much because they were silly guys who did silly things. But a female friend of mine is also now homeless and she's either been using drugs or has suffered from a nervous breakdown. It's so hard to see such a beautiful creature in the situation she's in. I wish that life weren't so insane. We can say that God's gift of free will is what makes life so crazy. But would you give a gun to a small child, knowing full well what could happen? If not, does that make you more sensible than God? We can say that Adam's fall is what caused this state we are now in. But don't you see how simplistic and unsatisfying of an answer that is, especially in this modern world?

Yes, no age is to young to learn to shoot...plus the earlier they start the better shot they usually end up being.

You know, I've never actually seen a gun in real life. A patient once threatened to shoot himself in the mouth in front of me, but the "gun" turned out to be a replica. I know they exist, I've seen them on TV, just never in real life....what a sheltered life I've led.

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If you're living a happy life as a Christian, you're doing something wrong.

That is rather offensive. I'm talking about real life and real people. Maybe I could tell you some stories involving my father's alcoholism and the pain this has caused my family. This is a very serious problem, how one can reconcile the pain and sufferings of this world with an all-powerful, all-loving God.Your response is entirely immature and unsympathetic. I've shared about a real person who I know that is struggling in life and would like to know why God would allow such a situation. You accuse me of being a flamer? Perhaps if you were a Christian, you'd feel compelled to pray for my friends instead of attacking me.

ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š May God help your friends and your struggle to understand such a difficult subject. For understanding I think there is a lot of good to be gained from a reading of CS Lewis' The Problem of Pain. But sometimes it is not so important that we understand all the whys and see only opportunities to grow in our love for others. That you care so much for your friends you wish to understand their situation better shows your love for them growing, that they have a friend who cares for them shows that God is blessing them already. I don't think personally that the traditional answers to the problem of pain and evil are unsatisfying. It seems more true to me that the modern world's self-understanding of itself are overly complicated. I find the Church's historic approach to these issues to be satisfying but incomplete. Necessarily incomplete because we now see through a glass darkly and won't understand everything until the next life (if even then)............

I saw her today for the first time in almost a year. She's just as beautiful as she's always been but her personality has changed. I could sense that she was either intoxicated or that something really terrible has happened to her. She spoke in incomplete, non-sensical sentences and when I'd ask her what she meant, she'd tell me that it was a secret. As far as I could tell, she has become mentally ill. It honestly hurts me inside to see someone, especially a friend, in her situation.

Matthew, I am sorry if I came across as petty and inconsiderate for continuing my idle banter with Ozgeorge. ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š I think Rd. DavidH's message to you was compassionate and helpful. ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š I also agree that it would be a good idea to post in the prayer forum for this young woman friend of yours. ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š God bless you. ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€š Juliana

I noted that someone who shall be nameless indicated that I am a godfather-type. The following is an excerpt of this description:I clearly am not the godfather, since it seems none of my henchmen are loyal...

Said with a true air of finality.....

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If you're living a happy life as a Christian, you're doing something wrong.

I can only imagine how difficult that encounter must have been for you or the circumstances that might have brought someone once so full of life and promise to be in such a condition. I think it would have been very difficult for me and the sadness of it would have lingered for some time. I hope that I would be able to convert that compassion into prayer and, if possible, to helping her in some practical way with my friendship. Our theological answers to the problem of evil and pain, coming from revelation and tradition are undoubtedly correct. But being correct doesn't necessarily make them satisfying when the "case" we are examining is someone we care for. The big WHY of it all is something we ourselves, feeling pain -whether for ourselves or others- may not be objectively ready to recieve. The little WHY however is something you seem to be well on the way to experiencing and understanding. She is there for you to help in some way. You are there for her to see God's love in some way. Exactly how will only become clear through prayer and effort.

Actually, I reported the thread to the moderator. Not because I think anything terrible or unChristian is going on, but just because Matthew is obviously sensitive on this issue, and I think the jocularity going on in this thread should be taking place somewhere else. What would a visitor think if they happened upon this thread, and saw the concern of Matthew for his friends, and then almost all the responses were unrelated jokes? Perhaps Matthew should have put it in a Prayer thread to begin with, but the issue he brought up was not just one of requesting prayer, but also one of pastoral and theological importance. This website has come up before, and I think it's as funny as the next guy; I just don't think that this is the thread for it.

From the title of the thread, 'Another Thread on the Problem of Evil' we can see that this form was started in the presence of another ongoing thread on the same issue...it seems to me that matthew simply wanted to start the conversation over again from scratch, which is a pointless exersize...such a thread leaves itself wide open to being hijacked and used for something more productive.